Mechanism for controlling valves.



H. L. RIEFNER.

MECHANiSM FOR CONTROLLING VALVES.

APPLICATION FILEDNOV. 23. 1912.

Patented July 3, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

H. L. RIEFNER.

MECHANISM FOR CONTROLLING VALVES APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23. 1912.

Patented July 3, 191?.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

UNTTE @TATd PATENT OFFTQE.

HENRY L. RIEFNER, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO CITIES ILLUMINATING COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

MECHANISM FOR CONTROLLING VALVES.

aaencao.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 3, 1917..

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY L. Rrnrnnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore city, and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanism for Controlling Valves, of which the following is a specification.

This invention. relates to devices for antomatically controlling gas and other valves; and it consists of the novel construction and arrangement of a time-dial, and ad ustable tripping-levers for opening and closlngthe valve at predetermined times, in comb1nation with a mechanism actuated by said levers, the time-dial and tripping-levers being driven by a clock mechanism, as will be hereinafter fully described in this specification and briefly stated in the claim.

\Vhile this invention is adapted to control the opening and closing valves, it is equally adapted to control the opening and closing of various kinds of switches, but it is particularly designed with reference to a streetlighting system and one of the chief objects is to provide mechanism by which a streetlamp, provided with the usual pilot, may be automatically lighted at a predetermined time and extinguished at a predetermined time.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent upon a complete disclosure thereof.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved device;

Fig. 2 is a similar view, the time-dial and actuating-levers being removed;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, the time-dial, actuatingdevers, and operating-rod being removed;

Fig. 4: is a central, vertical section, looking in the direction of the pivoted operating lever;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the rockable elbow lever and gear-wheel carrying the stop and actuating-pins, the lever being shown in engagement with one of the trippers;

Fig. 6 is a similar view, showing the engagement between the rockable lever and the tripper broken;

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the rockable elbow lever and the gear-wheel carrying the stop and actuating-pins showing the parts in normal position, and

Fig. 8 is a modified form of the opera-ting-rod.

Referring to the several views, the numeral 1 indicates a clock-mechanism of the usual eight-day type provided with the usual driving-wheel 2, and with a drivingwheel 3 normally held out of operative movement by the tripping mechanism hereinafter to be described.

Mounted on the arbor-sleeve 4 of the arbor 5 of the clock, is a sleeve 6 frictionally e11- gaging the arborsleeve 4. The frictionsleeve 6 is provided with a seat 7 upon which is seated a twenty-four hour time-dial 8, each hour being divided into fractions of fifteen minutes, and loosely-mounted on said friction-sleeve and adapted to be clamped to said time-dial, are two tripping pointerlevers 9 and 10 provided with pins 11 and 12 respectively, the pin 11 projecting through slot 13 in the time-dial. and provided with a tripper 11, and the pin 12 pro jecting through a slot 14 in said ti1nedial and provided with a tripper 12, said pointer-levers being adjustable by means of curved threaded rods 15 and 16 passing through posts 17 and 18 and operated by screw-threaded adjusting nuts 19 and 20 re spectively.

Suitably j ournaled in the frame of the clock is a spindle 21 provided with a pinion 22 meshing with the lower driving-gear 3, and mounted on said spindle is a gear-wheel 23 meshing with a pinion 24 carried by a spindle or shaft 25 journaled in said clock-frame. Mounted on the spindle 21 is a pinion 26 in mesh with a gear-wheel 27 mounted on a short stud or shaft 28 screwed into the clockframe and provided with a rotatable cam disk 29, said cam-disk being provided with a headed pin 30 arranged eccentrically to the axis of the cam-disk. An operating-rod 31 is movably-attached to the cam-disk by the headed pin 30 passing through a slot 32 in the base of said operating-rod, which is adapted to open and close the valve or gascock of a street lamp or other structure. The spindle 25 is provided at its upper end with a gear-wheel 33 in mesh with a pinion 34 carried by the fly-wheel staff 35. Thus it is seen that there has been provided a simple actuating mechanism which in its continuous operation alternately opens and closes the supply valve, and which is adapted to co-act with the stop means new to be described, whereby an eflicient and simple structure is provided.

Mounted on a boss or hub 36 of the clockframe is a rockable, elbow lever 37, one arm of which is provided with a tripfinger 38 arranged in the path of movement of the trippers 11 and 12 carried by the pointer levers 9 and 10. The other arm of the rock ablelever is provided with a. projecting cam surface'89 which is arranged in the path' of rotation of a pin a0 carried by the pinion 26, and the end of said arm is provided with a lug 41 projecting through a. slot 12 in the clock-frame and adapted to be engaged by stop pins 13 carried by the gear-wheel 33. The rockable lever is held in operative position, by the constant pressure of a spring 44, and the operating rod 31 is provided with a guide 45 operative through an ape-rture in a bracket 46.

It is noted that the stop pins t3 are located at different distances from the center of the wheel 38 and are considerably spaced apart. Thus as one of the trippers engages the rockable lever to move the lug 11 carried thereby out of engagement with the inner pin 43, the valve actuating mechanism will be permitted to move until the outer pin 43 engages the lug ll. By this action, the igniting flame which is usually provided is considerably enlarged so that when the tripper disengages the rockable lever, and permits it to swing inwardly past the pins 13 to free the valve operating mechanism, the resulting flow of gas will not extinguish the igniting flame. Upon the valve reaching either limit of movement, the operation of the valve operating mechanism is arrested by engagement of the pin carried by the pinion 26 which forces the lower end of the rockable lever outwardly in the path of the inner pin 4:3 it being noted that the pinion 26 rotates once with every half rotation of the cam disk 29.

The modified form of operating-rod shown in Fig. 8, consists of a crank-arm 17 having one end pivoted on the stud 28" and the other end pivoted to a rod 48 which, in turn, is pivoted to one end of a rockable operating-bar 49 carried by the gas-valve, the end of the stud 28 being extended for the attachment of the crank-arm thereto. Such a construction of opening-rod is shown in Patent Number 761,090 granted to me June 7, 1904.

In the operation of the device the tripping levers are adjusted on the dial adjacent the desired time symbols and upon rotation of said dial the lighting and extinguishing levers alternately engage and operate the rockable lever to momentarily release the valve operating mechanism, and thereby alternately light and extinguish the lamp.

Having thus fully described myinvention, what I claim is A timing mechanism comprising a drive shaft, a journaled valve wheel, apinion on the shaft meshing with and having one-half the circumference of said wheel, a pivoted member, and means associated therewith whereby said member in one position will hold said drive shaft, and in a second position will release said shaft, a cam carried by the pinion and adapted to move said member to said first position, and means for moving said member to a second position.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY L. RIEFNER.

VVitnesse's J os. T. NossnL, M. DAVIE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

